The paleontologist, who solved the mystery of a massive whale cemetery in the middle of a Chilean desert, signed on to the social news site Friday to discuss his new paper and answer questions about his job.

“Ask me about my work, or about ancient marine mammals like walrus whales, aquatic sloths or mini seals,” he wrote. “Or what it’s like to get paid to dig in the dirt in some pretty cool places.”

Some users on Reddit said it was surprising redditninemillion’s science teacher was able to
identify the bone as a whale vertebra.

“Sounds like you had an awesome teacher,” wrote Plecboy. “I imagine that sort of specialist knowledge isn’t a normal thing for science teachers.”

“His name is John Fuller and he was a legendary teacher at our school,” the original poster wrote in response. “We built potato canons [sic], pumpkin catapults, blew things up every day, and built cardboard boats that we raced across the school pond.”

Before Pyenson signed off, redditninemillion wondered about taking the potentially ages-old bone to the Smithsonian in D.C.